NEW DELHI – West Indies opener Chris Gayle has chosen the lucrative Indian Premier League over his country, officials said on Wednesday, prompting a damning reaction from his cricket board back home. The attacking batsman will turn out for Royal Challengers Bangalore, owned by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, as a replacement for the injured Dirk Nannes.
Gayle, 31, had been under a treatment programme run by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) after a strain suffered during the World Cup, but he signed up for the Bangalore outfit on Tuesday for the remainder of the IPL event. The former West Indies captain had earlier refused a West Indies’ central contract but was still in contention for later games during Pakistan’s tour of the Caribbean, which starts on Thursday.
He was not bought at the IPL player auction in January because franchises feared he would be unavailable because the IPL clashed with Pakistan’s visit. “It’s official now. The explosive Gayle is now a part of the RCB squad,” Mallya wrote on his Twitter page.
